No Rules to Guide Me

After the ceremony, everyone made their way to the hall where the reception was being held. Mom and Gary were going to get pictures taken before showing up, so it gave me and Acacia time to get some drinks before we had to take part in bridesmaids’ duties. I glanced down at the pastel green dress mom had picked out for us. I looked around the room, praying to find a bar close by because if I was expected to be in this dress I was going to need alcohol. I quickly found Acacia at the bar and quickly made my way over to her. As I did so, I noticed Matt staring at her from across the room…something he was doing the entire reception.

I stood next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Matt has been staring at you all day long.” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder, smirking when I saw that Matt had stopped halfway to the bar, his brows furrowed before he turned and joined Zacky and the rest of their friends at a table.

Chuckling to myself I turned back to the bartender who was putting a glass of champagne down in front of me. I smiled in thanks before turning my attention to my sister.

“I know he has.” She sighed, resting her head on her arm with a groan. Her blond curls bouncing as she repeatedly hit her head on the bar top.

I knew that tone and I didn’t like it one bit. “A....no.” I groaned. “You can’t.” I pleaded.

“She can’t what?”

A smooth voice asked from behind me, sending chills up my spine. I jumped with a small screech before coming face to face with the one person I had been trying to avoid all day. He was smirking down at me, green eyes full of mischief and his snakebites sparkling in the dim light. He had ditched his sports jacket and had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbow, effectively showing off his tattoos. I rolled my eyes and turned my back to him, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.

Since we met yesterday he has been following me around like a puppy dog and at first it was cute but then it became slightly annoying and it’s only been a day. It was only annoying because the longer he hung around me, the harder it was to resist him and there was only so much I could take. But the worse part was I was attracted to him, but I didn’t want him to know that just yet.

“Oh come on, Harley.” He pouted, moving to stand next to me. “I can keep a secret.”

I glanced over at him. “Harley? Where the hell did that come from?”

“You needed a nickname and I though Harley was a good one. Who doesn’t love a Harley?” He shrugged
Acacia laughed into her drink next to me , causing me to elbow her, chuckling when she choked. Served her right. I rolled my eyes at my sister before turning my attention back to the man in next to me.
“So you’re comparing me to a motorcycle?” I raised an eyebrow in question before rolling my eyes and turning away from him once again.

He moved closer to me and all my senses were assaulted by him. He was everywhere. His cologne swirled around me, causing me to groan quietly at the woodsy yet clean smell. His bare arm brushed against my bare shoulder and it sent a shiver through me.

Zacky chuckled and brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face. My skin tingled when his fingers made contact with my cheek. “I did but it’s a compliment. Harley’s are sleek, sexy, and fun to ride.” He whispered softly, winking as he pulled away and downed what was left in his glass.

I shrugged, trying not to let him know how his proximity affected me. “I wouldn’t know, I have never been on one.”

Zacky’s face lit up with a grin. “Oh you’re in luck. I just so happen to know someone who has a Harley.”
“Good for them.” I sneered, trying not to think of Zacky on a motorcycle. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom before my mom needs me.”

I didn’t give him a chance to answer before I grabbed my drink and made my way out of the reception hall and into the lobby. I went outside and leaned against the building with a sigh. I was pissed I didn’t think to grab my purse or at least my pack of cigarettes out of it. I needed to calm my nerves but couldn’t afford the wrath of my mother today. I sighed and leaned my head back and tried to steady my pulse. Between A and I, it was no secret how big of a crush I had on Zacky. If anyone truly knew me, they’d see the evidence of my crush in my behavior in the last twenty four hours.

I finished off my glass of champagne and took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. I couldn’t hide outside all night, I was going to be needed soon. Plus I wasn’t going to let Zacky get the upper hand of this situation if there was anything I knew about Zacky and the band was that they did not back down from a challenge and that’s what this was to him. A challenge.

For the rest of the night I managed to successfully avoid Zacky, while Ace tried to dodge Matt. I quickly realized that she was trying a lot less harder than I was and I made sure to keep my eye on her to make sure she didn’t do something to embarrass herself or Matt. I had been watching the two of the send glances at each other all night long. Any time Acacia caught me watching her, she’d give me a small knowing smile before turning her attention to something else. Matt on the other hand had the smarts to actually look guilty when he was caught, but that didn’t stop them.

“Har,” The sound of my sister’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Mom and Gary are leaving, you need to come say goodbye.”

I finished off my drink and went to the front of the reception hall where everyone in attendance gathered to send the happily married couple off on their two week honeymoon. I couldn’t help but smile at the love that Gary and my mom radiated. It still hurt to see her in love with someone that wasn’t my dad, but you couldn’t deny the love between these two. I always had said that I wanted a love like my parents and that still holds true and seeing it right now was bringing back several emotions from my pass.

There was a time, long ago, where I was just as happy as my mom was…or so I thought. Two years into the relationship my world got rocked in the worst way possible…he was killed.I haven’t been in a relationship since and I hadn’t felt the way I’m feeling watching my mom and Gary in since then.

“You look far off.” Matt’s deep voice sounded next to me as he watched our parents load up into the limo. “What’s on your mind?”

I sighed. “Nothing”

Matt groaned and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Come on, Harley, you can tell me.” He grinned.

“Oh god, he got you calling me Harley now too?” I rolled my eyes and shrugged off his arm.

Matt chuckled and moved so he was standing in front of me. “I like it, he’s right. It fits you. Listen, the guys and I are getting together at my house tonight. You and Acacia should come over so we can get to know each other better.”

“Because that didn’t sound suggestive or creepy at all” I scoffed.

I couldn’t hold my laughter back when Matt pulled a face of disgust as he shifted around. “You’re my sister now, so that’s just wrong.” He shook his head. “In no way did I mean it that way. I mean, I want to get to know you girls better since we didn’t know each other existed and I figured you’d like to officially meet the guys.” He smirked, his dimples popping out.

“What time and where? Acacia and I have to go back to mom’s and change out of these dresses.” I looked down at my outfit in distaste. I had been counting down the hours until I could change and put on some skinny jeans or leggings.

“Well, I’ll take you guys back to the house and let you change. I recommend you bring a change of clothes with you because if we have it our way, you won’t be able to walk later tonight.”

“Again with the creepy and suggestive comments.” I pointed out, laughing when Matt shoved me. “I’m sorry, but you need to watch your wording better.”

Matt went to respond, but Acacia joined out group, looking between the two of us. “What is going on here?” She asked.

“Matt was being creepy and invited us over to his house to hang out with him and the guys.”

“I was not being creepy!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Be ready to leave in five minutes.” He said sternly as he walked off to join his friends.

After chatting with some random family members that were still hanging around, Acacia and I met up with Matt and the guys. We quickly decided on a time to meet a Matt’s and Brian declared he was bringing pizza because he swore up and down that no one actually eats at weddings.

When Acacia and I got back to mom and Gary’s place, we were quick to strip off our dresses as we walked into the house, making our way into the guest bedroom we were sharing.

“What are we getting ourselves into tonight?” I asked, slipping a large sweater over my strapless bra.

A shrugged as she threw some clothes for both of us into a bag. “Who knows, but I think it will be fun. You need to relax some, you’ve been running around like crazy with all the conventions.” She sighed, tossing a pillow at me. “Plus, how often do we get a chance to say that we get to hang out with Avenged fucking Sevenfold?!” She whispered harshly, looking at the open door.

I rolled my eyes and busied myself with gathering my things. I couldn’t think about that because if I did I was going to lose my cool and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I had a feeling that we would be crossing paths with these guys more in the future and I didn’t want to be the stand-offside bitch of a step sister when it came to Matt’s friends.

“A, just chill out. It’s just Matt and his friends okay? That’s how you have to think of them because if you don’t and you keep fan girling, I’m going to lose my shit and end up joining you and then we’d look like a bunch of fucking losers.” I sighed. “Now, let’s go get this night over with.”

** **

The ride over to Matt’s house was relatively quiet. He filled us in on how he found out about our mom and how he felt about our parents marrying. He thought it was cool and he actually seemed excited about gaining two more sisters. He also filled us in on his personal life, which I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we knew thanks to the internet.

“There is going to be a lot of drinking.” He warned as he pulled into a large driveway. “We just wrapped up a small tour and we’re ready to relax.”

I looked at Acacia and grinned. She knew how stressed out I had been lately and a night of drinking and who knows what else was exactly what I needed. I wasn’t going to let Zacky get to me or worry about anything that I had coming up. I had looked at my phone briefly and saw all the notifications from my staff as well as some booking agencies and ignored them all. They’d be there tomorrow and I could deal with them then.

The three of us made our way into the house and Acacia stopped dead in her tracks, causing me to run into her. Sitting around the large room was the rest of Avenged Sevenfold, Berry twins, and Dan included. Almost everyone was rocking sweatpants and some sort of graphic tee.

“Wearing your own brand I see.” I called out to Zacky and Syn. “A little egotistical dontcha think?” I smirked taking a seat next to Johnny who gave me a high five.

Matt chuckled as he entered the room, clearly hearing my comment. He handed us each a beer before taking his own seat. “I was going to introduce everyone, but based on Ace’s sick as fuck chest piece I’d say you don’t need them.” He smirked, his dimples popping as he winked at Acacia. I could have sworn I heard her swoon from where I was

“Ace? Really? You guys are terrible at nicknames.” I mumbled, sipping my beer

“Oh come on, Harley,” Brian exclaimed. I shot a glare at Zacky who just smirked at me. “We have kick ass nicknames!”

I rolled my eyes. “Remind me, how did you use to spell Gates?”

The room erupted into laughter and I smirked to myself. I could do this, if I just keep making them laugh everything would be fine.

“Speaking of tattoos, Acacia who did yours?” Dan asked, admiring her in from afar

“Harlow did. She’s a tattoo artist.”

I glared at my sister as suddenly all the attention was on me. I may be an artist, but I hated being the center of attention and she knew this. I don’t know why she was doing this to me, but I was going to get her back.

As the evening progressed, so did the drinking. Questions got more personal and burns got better. Suddenly, Brooks declared that we needed to play poker and I groaned. I was terrible at poker and these guys were going to wipe the floor with me. I tried to get out of playing but no one would hear of it. I was practically shoved in a chair between Jonny and Jason as the cards were dealt.

“This is going to be bad.” I whispered to myself as the round started. I tried to pat attention to what was going on around me, but I kept getting distracted by Zacky. By his laugh, the way he’d absentmindedly tug at his lip piercing, or how his shirt stretched across his impressive chest. He was way more attractive in person and I was struggling to keep my cool.

“Harley, it’s your turn.” Zacky called, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I panicked and looked around for help, but everyone was just smirking at me. Apparently it was down to just Zacky and I and I had no clue what was happening. I turned my gaze to Acacia who subtly shook her head.

“Before you make your move, I want to up the ante some.” Zacky’s eyebrow arched in a sexy way as he smirked at me. “You lose this hand and you have to go out to dinner with me.”

The table “oooh”ed as they all looked at me. I chewed on my lip and looked down at my cards. I had no idea what I was actually holding, but I was willing to take a chance. “What do I get if I win?”

“I’ll stop calling you Harley.” He nodded. “Lay ‘em out.”

With a deep breath I laid my hand out on the table and I heard Acacia groan. She always tried to teach me how to bluff, but I never caught on. Based on her reaction, I knew that I had lost. I was going to have to go to dinner with Zacky. I groaned myself and put my head on the table as the guys cheered and laughed.

Someone, I’m not sure who, claimed we needed more beer so we delayed the next round. While the guys were grabbing drinks and talking, Acacia leaned over the table.

“Har, you know you just agreed to go on a date with him right?”

I answered her question with a groan and a view of my middle finger.

What have I done?

Notes

I apologize if this is crap. I was really struggling with this chapter for some reason. It was rewritten three times, so hopefull third time is a charm.

Please let let me know what you think!